A Kalamazoo County Circuit Court jury returned its verdict at about 2 p.m. Friday, finding Samuel Steel III guilty of murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of felony use of a firearm in the April 24, 2011, killing of Milo Conklin, 35, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Carrie Klein said.

Testimony in the trial began Aug. 27 in front of Circuit Judge Pamela L. Lightvoet. The jury began its deliberations Thursday afternoon, Klein said.

Conklin was wounded in the chest, back, stomach and thigh when Kalamazoo Public Safety officers found him at about 9:10 p.m. face down on the steps of a house in the 600 block of Mabel Street.

Testimony at a probable-cause hearing in September showed that Steel suspected Conklin of breaking into his home on Douglas Avenue and asked a friend for a gun after spotting Conklin on Mabel on April 24, 2011.

The case against Steel was tried by the Michigan Attorney General.

Klein said previously that her office sought a special prosecutor in the case because Steel initially contacted Jeff Getting about representing him in the case prior to Getting being elected county prosecutor in November. Also, Steel’s defense attorney in the case initially was Michael Reisterer, who is now an assistant prosecutor with Getting’s office.

Steel is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30 in front of Lightvoet.

Rex Hall Jr. is a public safety reporter for MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette. You can reach him at rhall2@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter.